HD100 Stock Lens Good enough to rely on?
 

I'm about a invest in the HD100 but I have a major concern. I don't and probably won't have a significant amount of cash to invest in $14,000 lenses so is the stock lens good enough for indy film production?

It seems that whenever camera manufacturers make interchangeable lens cameras, the stock lens always sucks.

They are not really charging you anything for it...:-)
Anyways; to answer your question, I'd say yes, if the DP knows what they are doing and how to use the lens. Feature films have been made with far worse cameras and lenses - hence, don't worry. Make sure your script is good, the camera will do just fine. If you have a little extra cash, you may want to conside renting the WA zoom...but then again, if you have a little more, you could probably rent a VariCam --- you know where I am going with this, right?

So all (most) of the HD100 owners on this board have purchased more lenses?!?

Adam- That depends on what you're shooting and is one of the reasons many of us selected the JVC. The stock lens if not carefully monitored can tend to peroduce Chromatic Abberation but it can be handled. That's not the main reson for changing lenses though. It's because 1) the stock lens tends to be narrower of focus than many of the other lenses, especially the Canons and 2) differing situations call for different lenses. As for the narrow focus, shooting non-set interiors is more difficult because of the narrower stock field of view. There are a couple of ways to go. One is with the purchase of, yes, as additional wide angle lens in the 13X family. The other is to emplioy a .8 wide angle adapter for the front of the lens. The difference in price is about $12,400 with the Fujinin .8 WA costing about $500-500 and the 13X lens going for about $13,000. For our type of shooting, sports entertainment, the stock lens works just fine in close proximity to the field and w/ WA adapter for color commentary booth shots. We move to an S20X6.4BRM for longer shots, though. Those who shoot drama and close ups may necessarilly want a "better" lens but we've had absolutely no issues whatsoever with the stock Fujinon.

The 13x is $8999 at B&H last I looked.

Short of that, the Fuji .82x WA adapter is $550. I'd say it's a necessary accessory for the stock lens in most situations.

Thanks Jonathon, did you have any viginetting with the WA adaptor?

I used Jonanthan's WA adapter for a couple of days on his shoot and never saw any vignetting.

Thanks guys!